It should be easy to drive a screw. It isn’t. In this blog and video we’ll try and close that gap.
Here’s a little parts diagram in words before we start: From left to right we have the (1) impact driver, (2) bit holder, (3) driver bit, (4) about 1/2-inch of air, (5) the screw.
Steps to putting a screw into wood:
The first step to drive a screw: Engage the driver bit with the fastener head. I use Spax because they’re awesome. I go into this in the video, at the end of this blog, in a little more detail.
With all the parts in line, the next step is to use the mass of the tool to sink a thread or two of the screw into the wood. Lift up, gently stab down into the wood fiber. It doesn’t take much. Just enough.
The driver tip and the screw head form what amounts to a 360-degree hinge point.
Get the screw, bit holder or tool out of line—even a little—and thuda-thuda-thuda! Once the screw is stabbed into the wood fiber a little, goose the trigger two or three times to really engage it.
Look how nicey-nice straight all this is. That screw practically wants to drive itself in there. Oh yeah!
You don’t need to blast the screw into the wood. And you don’t want to leave it above the wood either (called “proud”). Again, use the trigger and snug up the screw head just below the surface of the wood.
And that’s how you drive a screw.
Note: We created this blog in partnership with Wood It’s Real. They produce the pressure treated pine that I use in my projects. We produce the blogs. Visit them for inspo and info. Great projects over there.
